Marion

Virginia Lee Burton had a marvelous children's picture book that came out in 1939,  Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.  The steam Shovel was named Mary Anne. Marion Steam Shovel Company helped build many projects.  Miss Burton writes a litany of "Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne and some others...", in her story. The story was read, and the drawings shown on television episodes of Captain Kangaroo.  The factory buildings are long closed.  A shovel bucket remains next to the railroad as a monument.

Mary Anne's maw

This was my reason to see Marion.

Marion is the home to buildings honoring Warren Harding, one of the many Republican presidents from Ohio, and hopefully the last. Harding owned a town paper, and Thomas was a paper boy, and he as the other boys found Harding's wife a hard and mean boss. There are a few buildings in town named after Harding, i was not interested in scouting them out. I did go to find this marker standing in a parking lot.

Marion is the county seat of Marion County, and like many rural counties, the courthouse may be the most impressive building in town. Lady Justice crowns the building, good symbolism.

Beneath  the pediment is the Roman legal adage, Fiat justitia ruat coelum (Let justice be done though the heavens fall), also good symbolism. Roman law was also based on equity, and the current national régime has that to be scandalous anathema. There is no shortage of faded Chinese trumpster banners in rural Ohio.

Carved in the sandstone are several ornaments. There are eight portraits representing people. Four are 19ᵗʰC faces of county folk. Four are of the different races of men [supra is an American Indian].

Several cardinals (state bird) have been painted on various themes about town center. This is the one outside the courthouse.